Photograph
by StraightTalking
Summary: One shot. If Dom and letty were together whilst he was in Lompoc... Inspired by Ed Sheeran's song photograph


Photograph.

Letty's POV

 _"Loving can hurt, loving can hurt sometimes_

 _But it's the only thing that I know..."_

I twiddled with the necklace I'd been wearing around my neck for the last six months. Dom had given it to me to wear whilst he was locked away in Lompoc. The heavy silver cross looked very masculine on my slim frame but I wore it for him. I wore it in honour of him. I wore it because I loved him and I missed him. I gripped the necklace in my palm, wincing as the jewels cut into my palm. Leaving marks which would linger for hours. The physical pain was nothing compared to how I felt without him.

Rapping my fingers on the desk in the back of Toretto's garage I waited impatiently on his phone call. The fifteen minutes a week where I got to talk to Dom. I always took a lunch break on a Wednesday. Forty minutes to myself. It was forty minutes sat in the half lit office. Alone in the cool room filled with paperwork. On the desk sat one photograph. It had been taken mere weeks before Dom had been sent to Lompoc.

 _"We keep this love in a photograph..._

 _We make these memories for ourselves..._

 _Where our eyes are never closin, hearts were never broken..._

 _Times forever frozen still..."_

I stared at our frozen smiles. My arm was snuggly wrapped around his neck and his face was close to mine. Our faces almost touching. We were smiling beautiful big grins. Loving smiles. His face turned towards mines. It had been at the time a snatched moment alone at a table full of people when in reality it was not so private. Someone had been watching long enough to snap that picture. Yet it was the best photograph ever taken of us. We looked so happy, so natural... So free. Unlike now.

The sudden shrill ring of the phone caught my attention. Breaking me free of my thoughts. I smiled at sound. A pang spread through my chest as I realised that this was our only time together during the week. I didn't visit him. He didn't want me to and I couldn't bare to see him in that orange jumpsuit. I'd visited him once and the pain in his eyes had killed me. To my shame I'd left Lompoc with tears pricking at my eyes after spending half an hour looking into his sad, world weary eyes and listening to his falsely cheerful tone as he described the nicer points of life in prison.

I snatched the phone off the hook and lifted it cautiously to my ear.

"Hello?" I asked but I knew it would be him.

"Letty." His deep voice practically purred up the phone. As his voice filled my ears I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.

Instantly my voice softened, sinking into the tones I knew he loved when I used. "Dom."

"How are you?"

"Fine. You?"

"Fine. Is the garage busy?"

"Yeh. It's steady man. Picking up again."

He chuckled and I knew he'd be grinning ear to ear at that. He constantly fretted that Mia and I weren't doing well without him.

"Good. Glad to hear it." After a slight pause he added, "Don't work yourself into the ground."

"No I won't." Lies, I worked six days a week but he didn't need to know that. Yes we may be struggling but there was nothing he could do about it whilst he was locked up in Lompoc.

We paused. Chatting over the phone was awkward. You couldn't read facial expressions. I couldn't tell how he really was. I knew he did what I did and lied. He wasn't fine and neither was I.

"I was at the races the other night," I told him softly, playing with the cord of the phone. My eyes trained on the photograph. I wanted that feeling again.

"Yeh?" His interest peaked.

"Yeh. I saw the most incredible matte grey jenson inceptor..." I trailed off trying to think how to describe it to him. He preferred not to talk about Lompoc and I respected that to a degree. Our precious fifteen minutes were ticking away quickly. I was panicking that they were ticking away far too quickly.

"She purred when she rolled down the street. The most incredible hum. Practically singing. A gorgeous finish. Leather interior. God that's a car I hope to own some day!"

Dom laughed at the other end of the phone. "You know, sometimes I think you won't be happy unless you own all the cars in the world."

"Hmm just the muscle ones. Not much of an import girl. Some are nice and all but American muscle can't be beat..."

There was a grunt of approval. I knew he'd be proud of that comment. "That's my girl."

I laughed, a slightly husky, throaty sound. A blush rose from my chest. There was something about these two words when he said them, "My girl." In a post feminism era it was almost incredible to be owned. Most men were too scared of being too possessive and most women too independent to be claimed. While I was far too independent for my own good most of the time when it came to him I liked being "his". To know I belonged somewhere and was wanted was the most magical feeling in the world. Something beautiful and amazing. Everything rolled into one.

 _"...So you can keep me_

 _Inside the pocket of your ripped jeans  
Holding me closer 'til our eyes meet  
You won't ever be alone..." _

"Letty, I was wondering..." Dom trailed off.

"Yeh Dom?" I asked gently.

"Would you mind if I didn't call you next week?" His voice sounded deflated. I glanced at the calandra. May 17th. Next Wednesday would be Mia's birthday.

"No...call Mia instead," I murmured down the line. Instantly understanding. I knew he called her on a Friday afternoon whilst I was still at work but I would give up talking to him for a week if it meant he got to call his beloved baby sister on her birthday. I would always do that for Dom.

For a second there was silence. "You're really okay with that?" He asked, I could tell he was trying to smooth over any tension that it might cause. That he was trying to make everyone happy.

"Yes, call Mia. It would mean the world to her," I told him. I ran a hand through my hair something I did when I was anxious. I'd spend all next week worrying about him but what else could I do?

"You're amazing. Thanks Let," Dom breathed down the line. Even without seeing his face I knew he'd be smiling sadly, the corners of his lips just about curved up. He'd have his big dark eyes closed in shame because he'd feel like he were letting me down. He wasn't. It was selfish of me to crave so much of his attention but how could I not? I loved him.

We had six minutes left. Not long but it was still six wonderful minutes.

"You know what I got Mia for her birthday?" I asked him in an attempt to cheer him up. This was something that he'd want to know. This would make him happy. I'd been saving for months. I doubted it was worth the money but I'd splurged trying to make Mia happy. It was a desperate attempt, a shot in the dark but it was something.

"No idea. Want to tell me?" The notes of his voice rise and fell with intrigue as he asked me what I'd bought Mia.

"It was a little expensive but I got her tickets to go see the vamps in concert. They're really good seats and she can take whoever she wants," I explained. I smiled as I spoke. Nothing made me happier than seeing Mia smile. She rarely smiled these days and I had a good feeling about these tickets even though I knew deep down Mia wound understand if her birthday was a more muted affair this year. However it was not every day that she turned seventeen.

I heard his rolling laugh. He'd dismiss it was childish but he'd understand how much it would mean to Mia.

"Yeh Let, she will go crazy for that."

We lapsed into silence.

Three minutes left.

My fingers grappled at his necklace. I'd bought it for him when I was sixteen. It had been s birthday present for his eighteenth. On him it rested just above his heart. On me it was a little longer.

 _"...You can fit me  
Inside the necklace you got when you were sixteen  
Next to your heartbeat where I should be  
Keep it deep within your soul..." _

It was Dom who broke the silence which had only been punctuated by the slow, even sound of his breathing as we both thought of something to say. Neither of us were entirely honest with our lives as we didn't want the other to worry so our conversations were slow as we filtered through our week looking for the positives.

"I miss you so much Let," he said this every week and every week it hurt a little more.

"I miss you too Dom," I admitted. My heart ached and my left had slipped around the cross, gripping it tightly. The only piece of him I had to hold.

Two minutes left. I was lost for words. It always threw me when he said that. No matter how many times I heard him say those beautiful words. Those perfect words. The words which sent shivers jolting through my body.

I closed my eyes trying to imagine he was right there next to me so we could say goodbye. Yet it had been so long since I'd reached out and touched his face, so long since I had been that close to him that somehow the unforgettable presence of Dominic Toretto was becoming forgettable, lost in the deepest recesses of my mind.

With that we were into the final few seconds of our call.

"I love you Leticia Ortiz," he murmured so gently. His words so low it was similar to the voice he used when we're alone together in bed, just right after we'd had sex.

I didn't use the words often but when I did I meant them. "I love you too Dominic Toretto." The words no longer sounded like they were forced but sort of natural. I used to choke on them but they were becoming easier to say. I was getting there.

"Talk to you soon, I promise. Wait for me"

"Talk soon. I'll always wait for you."

With that our call was cut off. I hung up the phone and I rested my head in my arms, trying hard not to cry. Hurriedly I fought for composure. Then lifted my head from the desk and gripped the necklace tighter. A freshened resolve. Next time I'd have the best damn week to tell him about. I'd have happy stories for him and there'd be no silences. It was getting harder and harder every week to lie to him but I had to do it. He couldn't ever know how stressed I was trying to hold it together and I'd never put him through that sort of agony. No matter what I loved him and I would wait forever if I had to. Not that I'd ever tell anyone that.

 _"...When I'm away, I will remember how you kissed me_

 _Under the lamppost back on sixth street_

 _Hearing you whisper through the phone_

 _"Wait for me to come home"..."_

 _A/N I don't own the lyrics etc... I'm not actually sure that this is all that great but I wondered how Dom and Letty survived the early days of their relationship if they were together whilst he was in prison and this popped into my head. I hope you guys enjoy and as I say this is not my best and I apologise for an errors etc. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed even if it was not great. Hope you guys all had a great Christmas._


End file.
